What was your position before taking this one?

I was a GLC [Grade Level Coordinator] (at Park) for four or five years. It felt like it was time to try something different. I really enjoy working in special ed and there was an opportunity for me to do so at Minnetonka High School so I went there for two years. Then this opportunity came about. Being in a different district made me realize how much I wanted to be back (at Park and) how much I enjoyed the community. Especially as big of a school as we are, (there’s) that small community feel and that family feel that that’s here that I didn’t get in the other district so it was just a great opportunity to be back exactly where I wanted to be.

How has the transition been?

So far, it’s been great. The athletic office with Andy and Brittany, they’ve tried to make it as smooth as possible. Our coaches have been extremely helpful in letting me know what they need, what they feel like they haven’t received over the past years they’ve been here (and) just letting me know what things (will) help them out. So (that’s) made it an easier transition. As the year goes on, I know that we’ll get better at it and it will pick up a little bit more just because there’ll be more of a rhythm to it. 

What are some of the responsibilities of the athletic coordinator?

I take care of busing for our teams, which is kind of tough at this time with the shortage of bus drivers across the country. I deal with our registration for our students that are getting signed up or having trouble getting signed up for sports. The other part of what I do is a lot of our media stuff. I take care of promoting our different sports and trying to get people out, whether it’s fans, parents or just people in the community to try to build a better buzz about our athletes and the competitions that we have going on here. And then the last part of it is more of an outreach to help build our programs across the board, and whether that’s keeping our students that started playing a sport in elementary school, continuing to play all the way up through high school, to become varsity player or to get somebody who hasn’t played any sports, trying to find a place for them to feel like they belong. Another part of that is continuing to try to build our teams to look like our school — we want our teams to be just as diverse as our school lives. And that’s another big part for me, and again that starts with, even at the elementary level, making our sports not have any barriers whether it’s financial or just from a comfort standpoint. (I want to make) sure that every student has a chance to play whatever they feel or compete in whatever sport they feel is best for them. 

What are some goals you have for this year?

Just to set the foundation. I have to keep reminding myself each day that this isn’t a short-term position. A lot of the goals I’ve set for myself as far as changing different things, again from media to exposure for our different programs that don’t get the exposure like football or basketball do. But to get our community more involved in checking out our tennis team or coming to a boys’ swimming meet in the winter. All of those things are going to take time. Just right now setting that foundation, finding out what spots are we lacking in so that I can attack those and in the right manner, to change those things day by day. This year is really about setting the foundation and figuring out what areas are lacking and so we can start to fill those holes.